In the rush to head home for Thanksgiving, U.S. senators quietly agreed late last week to give themselves a $3,100 pay raise — a month after they voted against it. The below-the-radar decision to swell their salary to $165,000 annually came via voice vote — sparing a chamber full of presidential hopefuls like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from going on the record in favor of it.

Congressional pay raises are now automatically included in the massive Treasury-Transportation-Housing budget each year. The raise must be specifically voted out to stop it from going into effect.